Section 17 Notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION

Section 22(1) states that information intended for future publication is exempt information if:

(a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not), (b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and (c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date of publication

Section 22 is a qualified exemption which means that the decision to disclose the requested material is subject to a public interest test.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) acknowledges that there is a public interest in demonstrating the transparency of the prosecution process and the performance of the organisation.

Data relating to non-conviction outcomes due to ‘disclosure issues with CPS or police’ from November 2018 is due to be published.

The time required before the data is published allows for the review and validation of the figures to be included. To release this data ahead of schedule could compromise the accuracy and completeness of the data and supporting information.

On balance, I do not consider that it would be in the public interest to disclose the information requested ahead of schedule.